| copyright | Chapter II: Kuo Chih-Yuan 郭芝苑 In “A Major symphony--- Immigrations from Tang Shan ”Kuo Chih Yuan wrote: “Ever since I started to learn composing. I have always had a wish deep in my heart to write a symphony dedicated to my ancestors for my gratitude to them.” Biography Life and Career Kuo Chih-Yuan(1921-2013) was born in the city of Miaoli(example 2-1, located in the red frame); he grew up in a farm town with Ge-zai-si, Nanguan and Beiguan music that was often played in front of the temple when the religious festival took place. With this background traditional music became a big part of the inspiration in his compositions. In 1936 he went to Japan to study with a famous harmonica player, Fukushima Tsuneo(福島常雄). This became the beginning a music career for Kuo. For playing purposes, Kuo started to compose and make arrangements. With the help of Mr. Tsuneo, he taught Kuo about music theory and composition techniques. Kuo found his passion in music and he decided to become a professional composer. example2-1. (Kao on the right) Contribution to Taiwanese music “I am very clear about the three ideas of my compositions, which are always ethnic, modern and musical.” —— Kuo, Chih-Yuan In Taiwan, Kao is considered the father of folk music. In 1941, from his study in Japan, he listened to and researched a lot of western composers such as Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904), Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) Claude Debussy (1862-1918), Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) Sergey Prokofiev (1891-1953) and Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971). Kuo was touched and attracted by the styles of these composers and this influenced his style of composition. Additionally, when Kao studied in Japan the music industry there started to promote Japanese folk songs and therefore his deep love of the folk music additionally awakened. Kao went back to Taiwan in 1946 after the end of the Second World War. He got awarded the second prize in Taiwan composition Concours. Afterward, he joined the music-making collection group (製樂小集). He then decided to go back to Japan again in 1966 to study at Tokyo Art University to study more in order to create better works for Taiwanese people. In 1955, Kuo completed the first “piano concertino with string orchestra”(小協奏曲) (example 2-2) in the music history in Taiwan. The piece contains the typical Taiwanese folk songs interval elements ; in the red box in the first movement, we can hear the solo pianist using typical minor third interval(A-C) in the folk music as well as the first violin answering with decreasing minor third(F-D).It has the strong folkloric taste throughout the piece. In the beginning of the third movement, we can also hear the first violin playing the clear melody line using F-pentatonic (F-G-A-C-D)scale. These elements give a special folk color to the piece. Moreover, he was also the first composer who finished at 1981 a Taiwanese opera which is called “Xu Xian and the White Queen”(許仙與白娘娘) (example2-3), another opera “The Cowherd and the Weaver” (牛郎與織女) (example 2-4)completed in 1974. Example 2-2 Piano concertino with string orchestra beginning of the I and III movment source: Yu-Hsiu Lu, Music History in Taiwan (臺灣音樂史) (Taipei: Wu-Nan Books, 2003)497 Example 2-3 Xu Xian and the White Queen, first act first scene source: Yu-Hsiu Lu, Music History in Taiwan (臺灣音樂史) (Taipei: Wu-Nan Books, 2003)499 Example 2-4 The Cowherd and the Weaver source: Yu-Hsiu Lu, Music History in Taiwan (臺灣音樂史) (Taipei: Wu-Nan Books, 2003)498 (Kuo Chih-Yuan) (the performer of The Cowherd and the Weaver in 1988 with Kuo) Three pieces for violin and piano(三首小提琴與鋼琴小品) This violin piece is the arrangement by Kuo in 2001 which is selected from his different orchestral works. It contains three small movements; Sword dance(夜深沉), Taiwan Melodie(台灣旋律) and Folk Dance(車鼓舞). The three pieces contain essential Taiwanese traditional folk music elements, including Nanguan and Taiwanese opera . The first movement , Sword dance, is the arrangement from Kuo’s original orchestral work called three Taiwan folk songs . From the score (example 2-5)we can see the notes A ,E and some G are usedu a lot in this movement. It clearly using a seven-word mode element from the Taiwanese opera. The tremolo sound played by the violin in the beginning, with the notation of crescendo, sounds like it is telling the audience the play is starting. At bar 35 after the fermata, violin is imitating the vocal sound, like recitative. At bar 38 the second beat using the D to C in the end of the phrase, is imitating the sigh-like effect sound. Example 2-5 The whole first movement , Sword dance The second movement, Taiwan Melodie is from the orchestral work of Kuo called Taiwan tune . From my personal observation, I think Kuo was using elements of Nanguan. The following examples can prove my point. Firstly, the tempo of the movement was indicated in Lento and later changes to Andante which we can see is a slow tempo music. As we see from the previous chapter, the music character of Nanguan is elegant and gentle, it is slow-tempo music. Then, in bar 2, the left hand of piano uses the typical beginning rhythmic motive. Finally, we can see the left hand of the piano is constantly playing the note B, which is the main note (the movement is in B Pentatonic scale )of the piece. It is clearly imitating the Nanguan music with the Chinese lute playing main note. Example 2-6 The whole second movement , Taiwan Melodie The third movement, Folk Dance is from the third movement of his Orchestral Suite called Recollection. In this movement, Kuo also used the elements of Taiwanese opera. It is imitating the show which categorized under the Taiwanese opera called ‘che gu nog’(車鼓弄) which is often played in front of the temple or in religious festivals. The show is set to be comical often played with two amusing characters by one man and one woman . The piece starts with violin playing pizzicato unison with piano part which only uses bass clef. It looks like it is imitating the character of man and woman. By listening to the piece we can hear starting from the beginning the A and E notes take the main role again. That shows the elements from seven-word mode(Taiwanese opera). However, there is a surprising note ‘Eb’ in the bar 2 which I think is to express the amusing atmosphere. How ‘che gu nog’ looks Example 2-7 The whole third movement , Folk dance |
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